Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara
faced a massive backlash on Thursday after he blasted the head
of a Florence school who warned of the risk of Fascism after two
of her students were attacked last weekend, allegedly by
right-wing militants.
Two pupils were punched and kicked on the ground outside
Florence's Michelangelo high scool on Saturday and police have
identified six young members of the Azione Studentesca
right-wing group, including three minors, as suspects.
In the letter to her pupils, school principal Annalisa Savino
said that Fascism was born "on the edges of an ordinary
sidewalk, with the victim of a beating for political reasons
left alone by indifferent passers-by".
Valditara told Mediaset television that the letter was "totally
improper" because "it is not a principal's job to send out
messages like this and the content has nothing to do with
reality.
"If this attitude were to continue, we will see whether it is
necessary to take measures," he added.
Florence Mayor Dario Nardella, a senior member of the
opposition, centre-left Democratic Party (PD), was among the
many figures to condemn the minister's comments.
Nardella called on Valditara to "apologize and resign" saying
his "intimidatory" tone was against the "Constitutional
principles of school autonomy and freedom of thought.
"The words of Valditara are extremely serious, offensive and
unheard of," said Nardella.
"He is unworthy to hold the role of education minister.
"This government has not even found the time for the smallest of
condemnations of the attack by the Azione Studentesca members on
two minors who are pupils at the Michelangelo high school, but
it wasted not time in intimidating a school principal".
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